AUBURN – Gus Malzahn knows a lot about LSU true freshman quarterback Brandon Harris, who will making his first career start at Auburn Saturday night.

Harris chose to sign with LSU over Auburn and Ohio State last year, making his commitment just two days after Sean White committed to Auburn.

"The unique thing is we recruited him. So we know he's very talented; we know a lot about him," Malzahn said during his appearance on the Tiger Talk radio program Monday night. "He's a dual-threat quarterback. You look at his stats, what he's done this year is very impressive. Thrown a lot of touchdowns, came in late in the Mississippi State game and made that very interesting. He's a definite factor so we'll have a plan against him."

LSU coach Les Miles announced the decision to start Harris, who went 11-for-14 for 178 yards and three touchdowns after coming off the bench in the second quarter of LSU's 63-7 win over New Mexico State.

"A very nice job, threw the ball well, made good decisions," Miles said. "It stands to reason that he would get first snaps in the next game."

Harris' start in the sixth game of the season is the quickest a true freshman quarterback has started at LSU since Jamie Howard (fourth game) in 1992.

The 6-foot-3 188 pound Harris is 22-for-30 for 294 yards with six touchdowns and one interception and has 16 carries for 108 and three touchdowns.

"He is mobile, there's no doubt about that," Malzahn said. "What really stood out to me recruiting him is he's got an NFL arm. He can stand on one hash and throw it across the numbers to the other hash, it gets there in a hurry. He's a very talented young man."

Miles left open the possibility of Anthony Jennings, who started all five games thus far for No. 15 LSU (4-1, 0-1 SEC), playing as well.

"We will always kind of view the game and see how that's going," Miles said. "Sometimes there's an opportunity for another player to give a player that's currently got the burden of starting and all of the game plan on his plate a series or a situation off. I'm not saying we will do that, but we're very capable to see how the week goes and we have a lot of confidence in both guys. We certainly have a lot of confidence in Harris, and we will have to take it as it goes."

Auburn's defense has to prepare for Harris with very little game tape to look at.

"You always have that lack of knowledge that's kind of always makes coaches nervous," Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said. "We'll look at the film. It really can't affect a whole lot of what we would do from a plan standpoint but I think the players will have to be aware, the biggest thing would be aware of his athleticism and the things they can do to hurt you if we don't cage him up in the pocket."